Currently Unnamed
by Unicorpse the Reaver
Summary: Following the events of the final episode. The diabolical XANA is on the move again, more stuff inbetween couples, and the possibility that there may be another figure within the Lyoko universe that may turn the tables on either side...New! Chapter four!
1. A Visit From Aelita

Quick reminder: I don't own "Code: Lyoko," or anything directly involved with the show, I'm just a teenager who liked it and would like to contribute a fanfic. So sue me. Wait. No. Please don't. I have no money.  
  
CHAPTER ONE: A VISIT FROM AELITA  
  
The scene opens on Jeremy's dorm room. Jeremy is in his chair by his computer, Ulrich is sitting on Jeremy's bed, Yumi is standing on the other side of Ulrich, Aelita's face is on Jeremy's monitor, and Odd is squatting on the floor on the other side of Jeremy. Everyone is smiling.  
  
"I think our good old buddy XANA is losing his touch!" Odd quickly stated. "I mean, come on! He infected a few toy planes!"  
Pushing his glasses further up his nose, Jeremy shot a quick grin at Aelita.  
"Maybe so," Aelita chuckled, "but anything infected with the essence of XANA becomes deadly."  
"I agree," Jeremy replied.  
Yumi sat down next to Ulrich.  
"It was Ulrich that saved the day, though", Yumi told her friends. "He's the one who came up with the plan to lure those hornets away from Aelita and me."  
Ulrich blushed as Odd smiled mischievously.  
"What about me! I'm the one who sacrificed himself to kill those crabs! And I STILL got shot!"  
More laughter.  
"Well, it's getting pretty late guys..." Yumi started. "I'd better go off home."  
"See ya!" Jeremy told her.  
"Yeah, see ya!" Odd echoed.  
Yumi turned to Ulrich, and they grinned at each other. She turned around and headed out the room.  
"We'd better get down for dinner," Ulrich said aloud.  
"They're serving nachos today...finally, something edible!" Odd complained.  
"I'll talk to you later, Aelita." Jeremy calmly told her.  
"Okay, I'll see you then!" Aelita winked as she signed off.  
  
A spark quickly shot out of an outlet in the construction warehouse fifty miles away from the city. An eerie purple mist slowly oozed from it, wrapping around in the air. It twisted around as it engulfed a nearby vehicle. The radio inside the vehicle shimmered, then displayed a bull's- eye with a line emerging from the top and three from the bottom, shaped vaguely like an 'A'. XANA had claimed another inanimate object as a weapon of destruction.  
  
Jeremy was now sitting in his bed. He blushed at the thought of Aelita's wink. He was afraid to admit it to her, but he had an incredible crush on her. It was unbearable. He kept thinking of that night, about a week before, when Aelita was out of Lyoko and she was taking pictures of them in a photo booth.  
He sat up, and moved to his desk. He opened a drawer and pulled out a strip of film. He stared at a particular picture, one showing Aelita wearing Jeremy's glasses. He smiled as a tear opened in is eye.  
The screen flickered on, with Aelita's face.  
"Hey there!" she beamed. Her eyes focused on the strip in his hands.  
"Oh, what's that?"  
Jeremy, surprised by her appearance, glanced down at the pictures. He realized his mistake and began to blush.  
"It's just...you know..."  
"Know what?" Aelita slyly grinned.  
"The...the...uhh...the pictures that we...you know...we..." he stammered. He had never been this embarrassed, talking to her! He was afraid that his cover would be blown, although he suspected that she already knew his feelings for her.  
"Ohhh! The pictures we took in the..."  
"Photo booth," Jeremy answered. "The pictures we took together."  
"Let me see them!" Aelita begged.  
"Only if you say 'please'," Jeremy smiled. He was finally getting his nerve back.  
"Pretty pleeeease..." Aelita cooed.  
Jeremy blushed again. He was losing it! He was going to spill everything!  
He quickly pushed the strip to where she could see them. While she focused on the prints, he blushed openly.  
"Ahhh...I like the one when I wore your glasses," Aelita beamed again. "Do you like it?"  
'This is unbearable!' Jeremy thought. She was making him blush more than ever.  
"Why are you...blushing...so much tonight?" she innocently asked him.  
She knew! She saw his face!  
"Uhh...um...it's just..."  
"Yesss?"  
"I..." Jeremy hung his head.  
"What is it? Am I making you 'uncomfortable'?"  
"No! You're not! I'm just...embarrassed...a little."  
Aelita's eyes widened.  
"By what?"  
Jeremy's heart was racing. Why did he have to say that! How was he going to get himself out of this one?  
"I've...just got these...feelings..." he told her.  
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he regretted them. He was afraid that he'd say something like that!  
"Hmmm...? What kind of feelings?" Aelita toyed with him.  
"I...I..."  
There were a few short seconds where nothing was said.  
"I really like you. I just...I do."  
There was a pause.  
"Jeremy..."  
Jeremy inwardly shouted at himself. He couldn't believe it! He was telling her everything!  
"I want to have a visit tomorrow. Just you and me. Okay?" Aelita finally said.  
"Uh...yeah...yes please, I'd like that." Jeremy replied.  
"Alright then. Well, you'd better go to sleep then." She smiled.  
"G-goodnight, Aelita."  
"Goodnight, Jeremy."  
  
So, what does everyone think? It'll get better in further chapters, this one was a bit mushy-ish closer to the end...I promise not to do that so much in future. But I needed a starting point, and the Jeremy x Aelita thing was too light in the series.  
  
So leave comments! 


	2. Trio of Death

Quick reminder: I don't own "Code: Lyoko," or anything directly involved with the show, I'm just a teenager who liked it and would like to contribute a fanfic. So sue me. Wait. No. Please don't. I have no money.  
  
CHAPTER TWO: TRIO OF DEATH  
  
This scene opens up in the lunchroom the next morning.  
  
"Say, does anyone else think Jeremy's been acting a little strange today?" Yumi asked Ulrich and Odd. The two stared at each other, then at her.  
"Maybe a bit distracted, but otherwise, no..." Odd told her.  
"Yeah, that's just it. I bet he's still thinking about Aelita a lot. He's been searching for that antivirus nonstop. He really misses her company."  
"Why? He can speak to her from his screen," Ulrich threw out as he sat back in his chair.  
"Yeah, maybe, but when you like being around someone, you want to be able to reach out and touch them..." Odd stated.  
"Hmm? Since when were YOU the master of all relationships?" Ulrich told him.  
Odd turned to him.  
"Place your hand on Yumi's shoulder."  
"What?"  
"Go on. Place you hand on her shoulder."  
Ulrich turned across the table to Yumi, then reached out and slowly rested his palm on her right shoulder.  
"You can just reach across a table. You two aren't even three feet away from each other. Jeremy and Aelita are in different WORLDS. There is a huge barrier between them. Plus, he can't go into Lyoko like we can."  
"Yeah, but can't Aelita come out now?" Ulrich said.  
"Only for short visits," Yumi coolly replied. "Speaking of them, where is Jeremy? He's been gone for a while..." She smiled at Ulrich until he remembered to remove his hand from her shoulder.  
  
Jeremy was standing at the scanners. The door to the middle one opened, and a gush of white mist escaped the hatch. Aelita staggered out.  
"I'm still not used to that," she told him, collapsing onto him. They were both lying on the ground, with Aelita sprawled out over Jeremy. Jeremy was facing her, blushing.  
"I'm glad you came," Jeremy whispered.  
"Me too," she whispered back.  
They sat up, and she quickly wrapped her arms around him.  
"It's so lonely there..." she told him. "No wind, no heat, no cold...it's lifeless."  
"As soon as I prepare an antivirus, you'll never have to go back again..." Jeremy whispered.  
"Thank you, Jeremy..." she whispered back before she planted a kiss on his cheek.  
  
Ulrich was standing in front of a TV in a classroom with a group of students. The TV was displaying a news flash about a car chase.  
"Guys..." Ulrich started. He turned around to Yumi and Odd, who were still in their seats. "You'd better come see this."  
Yumi and Odd shared a quick look, then leapt out of their seats to join the crowd.  
"Oh no." Yumi cried.  
"This can't be good." Odd started.  
"Good heavens..." the teacher said to himself.  
Jim, who for some reason just happened to be in the room, replied "Ehhh?"  
The screen showed a reporter standing by a main road into the city. A large building was in the distance, with a road leading up hills to it.  
"As you see before us, there is a large warehouse here. However, a construction worker reportedly called our station up and claimed that three construction vehicles have started up by themselves and are headed this way in high speed. Several squad cars are on their trail."  
Several large yellow vehicles sped past the reporter, followed by the law enforcement vehicles.  
"And there you have it!" The reporter, surprised, called out. "We have the first scoop! Did you get that, cameraman! They were UNMANNED!"  
Ulrich turned to his friends.  
"XANA. It has to be." Yumi told him.  
He nodded.  
"What's he up to?" Odd wondered aloud.  
"We'd better call Jeremy. Maybe Aelita's told him something." Yumi continued.  
In a swift, graceful motion, Ulrich snatched the phone from his belt.  
  
"I missed the feeling..." Aelita told him. "To be able to swing your arms and feel the air swim around them!"  
Jeremy smiled at her. He was leaning against one of the scanners as she began to swing her arms and laugh.  
"Say, Aelita...next time you come, we should get an ice cream or something."  
Aelita stopped and stared at him cutely.  
"Was that...you asking me out on a...date?"  
Jeremy stopped and blushed harder than ever.  
"I...well...umm...if you wanted to think of it that way..."  
Aelita's face saddened. "Oh. Sorry..." she glanced away.  
"No! No! I didn't mean it like that!" Jeremy quickly told her. He stepped to her and put his hands on her shoulders.  
"Aelita?"  
"Yes, Jeremy?"  
"Would you like to go out on a...date, with me?"  
Aelita's eyes brightened as she stared into his eyes.  
Jeremy's heart stopped as she kissed him swiftly on the lips.  
"There's my answer."  
"Aelita..."  
His phone went off.  
  
"Jeremy!" Ulrich called into the phone.  
"Ulrich? What are you—"  
"No time! Yumi, Odd, and I are on our way to the factory! XANA's at it again, but he seems pretty serious this time around!"  
"What's the situation?"  
"XANA's infected three large construction vehicles! They are on their way into town!"  
"He wants to tear something down..." he replied.  
"Where are you, anyway? We're coming up for the manhole."  
"I'm...umm...at the factory already."  
"What? Why?" Ulrich asked suspiciously.  
"Aelita gave me a warning earlier. I came here to check it out."  
"Hmmm..." he replied. "Why didn't you call us sooner?" Jeremy was at a loss.  
"I was about to...you caught me first. Lucky timing, I guess..."  
There was a silence.  
"Well, we'll see you in a minute," Ulrich told him.  
"See you then."  
Jeremy hung up. He turned to Aelita.  
"XANA." She knew the answer already.  
"Yes. He's taken control of a few vehicles and he wants to demolish something."  
She sighed. "I guess I'll go back in..."  
She hugged him again and stepped into the scanner.  
"Maybe we'll have better luck next time..."  
Jeremy sadly smiled and stepped into the elevator.  
  
"What did he say?" Yumi asked Ulrich as they pulled the manhole cover up.  
"Aelita tipped him off."  
"Ohhh. Okay."  
They slid down the ladder and grabbed their skateboards. They zoomed down the sewer access canal into the city. About a minute or two later, they reached a similar ladder. They stopped and climbed up, pushing the other manhole cover out of the way.  
They slipped out the sewers and raced towards the factory. Yumi, like always, reached the wires first, jumping on one and riding it towards the elevator entrance. She hopped off and slid to the door. Ulrich and Odd followed.  
Once in the elevator, they rode it down to Jeremy's computer matrix.  
  
Okay, so more happened this time around...XANA's on the attack, Aelita and Jeremy are getting even closer to each other, and the three are about to enter Lyoko. But ho, what is that? Is that the sound of plot development? Something's about to change everything... 


	3. A Diversion

Quick reminder: I don't own "Code: Lyoko," or anything directly involved with the show, I'm just a teenager who liked it and would like to contribute a fanfic. So sue me. Wait. No. Please don't. I have no money.  
  
CHAPTER THREE: A DIVERSION  
  
The scene switches to Jeremy. He is sitting at his computer chair in the factory's mainframe computer. The elevator door opens behind him. Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd step out.  
  
"You're here! Good. I've been listening to the TV broadcasts, and the situation doesn't seem to be any better." Jeremy told them as he spun around in the chair.  
"What's XANA up to?" Ulrich asked him.  
"Well...I'm not sure...it's obvious that he picked those construction vehicles for a reason...so I believe that he is after the school so that he can destroy us. Remember, it's mainly us that XANA is after..."  
Yumi nodded. "That sounds just like him."  
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm off for the scanners," Odd told them as he raced back for the elevator.  
The others nodded and followed.  
As the doors closed and they were dropped to the scanner room several stories below him, Jeremy opened communications with Aelita, who had passed back into her home world just a minute ago.  
"Jeremy! The pulsations are deafening!"  
"Aelita, what's happening?"  
"I don't know, but Ulrich was right! XANA is up to something big! I'm sure that we're not seeing the full picture just yet..."  
Jeremy nodded in agreement. "I found the tower. It's in the forest region."  
"Good, I'm leaving now." She told him as her face left the monitor screen.  
  
Odd, Yumi, and Ulrich stepped into their corresponding scanners. The doors snapped shut behind them as they heard Jeremy's voice through the grates above them.  
"Scanner, Yumi."  
"Scanner, Odd."  
"Scanner, Ulrich."  
Yumi wondered to herself if Jeremy knew that they could hear him. She guessed not.  
All three of them closed their eyes before they were lifted into the air. They began to spin as they were virtualized into video game sprites.  
"Virtualization." Jeremy finished.  
In three flashes of light, Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi left this world for Lyoko.  
  
Jeremy massaged his temples. His eyes quickly tilted to the TV broadcast.  
"—Apparently switched courses, and are headed towards—"  
Jeremy sat up in horror.  
"No! It can't be!"  
  
Yumi was crouching on the ground in her geisha guise. Odd was only feet away from her, as a giant purple cat-boy. Ulrich was a samurai, on her other side. The three stood up and glanced around at the woods surrounding them.  
"Aelita!" Odd called out.  
There was a rustle in the trees behind them. They spun around and armed themselves for XANA's minions. But instead...  
Aelita stepped out from the trees.  
They all sighed and walked up to her.  
She pointed to the activated pillar to their left.  
"There's the tower, but it's guarded by several crabs," she told them.  
"Leave it to us, we'll handle it," Odd replied.  
  
They had crossed several floating platforms when Jeremy's voice echoed in their heads.  
"Everyone! We've got trouble!"  
"What's up, Jeremy?" Ulrich asked aloud.  
"The construction vehicles! They weren't meant to destroy the school! They're coming to the factory! There's a crane, a bulldozer, and a tractor!"  
"So, what? We can handle things here. Anyway, they can't exactly fit in an elevator," Yumi told him.  
"They happen to be armed with explosives. They were to be used in destroying that old apartment complex in the city tomorrow. XANA decided to use them to bomb the factory. If he dumps all of it into the elevator and sets it off, he'll take out the only way up AND make the whole place cave in on us!"  
"That doesn't sound too good," Odd replied.  
"Look out!" Aelita cried.  
Odd was knocked backwards onto his back by a laser. Apparently, while Jeremy was speaking to them, they had been ambushed.  
"Crabs! And a few Blocks!" Jeremy told them.  
Aelita ducked behind another tree as Odd hopped to his feet. Yumi, Ulrich, and he put their backs together in a triangle as their attackers came out from the trees around them. There were two Blocks and four Crabs.  
"Yahhhhh!!" Odd shouted as he rolled to the left and shot a block in the target. "Laser Arrow!"  
"Triangulate!" Ulrich cried as he spun around a Crab and produced two clones.  
"Huuhh!" Yumi yelled as she leapt into the air and flung her fan at a target of another Crab.  
Two Crabs and a Block collapsed.  
"Ahhhh!" Ulrich shouted as he was shot in the back, his two clones already defeated by the Crab he destroyed.  
"Ulrich!" Yumi cried as she too was shot.  
Odd jumped over her in a flip and shot her Crab down. It broke apart into vanishing fragments.  
As Ulrich and Yumi crawled to their feet, Jeremy warned them of their low amount of life points.  
A block crept up and shot Ulrich as he cut down the last Crab. He fell to the ground and vanished.  
  
"One Block left," Jeremy said to himself. He glanced at the TV broadcast again. The three vehicles were less than ten blocks away and gaining. Fast.  
The elevator opened and closed behind him. Ulrich walked up to Jeremy and stood next to him.  
"How's it looking?" he asked.  
"Not good. Aelita's taken her chances and has fled towards the tower. Odd has thirty life points, and Yumi can't take another hit."  
"I can't believe I was taken out by a Block." Ulrich sighed. "You'd think by now that we would've been able to take those down with ease."  
"They came out from nowhere. It was an honest mistake."  
  
Odd had just destroyed the last Block when he turned around to see that Aelita had vanished. He spun around towards the tower to see that she was almost there.  
"Heh heh...impatient, but with good reason," he said aloud.  
"Let's make sure she's alright," Yumi told him as she sped off in her direction. Odd followed closely behind.  
  
The three construction vehicles were four streets away. The squad cars were having no luck in gaining on them, let alone stopping them. The yellow vehicles somehow managed to keep from hitting pedestrians or other vehicles, due to pure luck. But they were almost at their destination.  
  
"Yumi! Odd!" Aelita cried. She was at the tower, but one last Crab stood in her way. As it's target began to glow, a laser arrow embedded itself into it.  
"It's all yours," Odd smiled as he waved at the piller of darkness before him.  
Aelita smiled back and stepped into it.  
As she made her way to the center of the large 'XANA' target on the floor, lights began to glow. She slowly floated to the top.  
  
The three angels of death were racing across the bridge Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd had ran across from the manhole earlier...  
  
A touch-screen opened before her. The word 'Code:' appeared. She input her name...  
  
Jeremy plugged in the coordinates as a loud crashing noise was heard. As the factory caved in above him, Ulrich lifted his head...  
  
Aelita's touch-screen vanished. The images dotting the walls of the tower collapsed as a bright white light erupted...  
  
A huge pillar of flame shot down the elevator channel and blew the doors off the elevator. The door froze in midair at Ulrich's face, along with the rubble just meters above him...  
  
"Return to the Past, now!" Jeremy shouted.  
  
The white light forced its way out of the factory in a large dome, that began to encompass the city...  
  
Jeremy was standing by his computer, chatting with Aelita. "I want to have a visit tomorrow. Just you and me. Okay?" Aelita asked him again. Jeremy smiled at her, with a blush-less face. "Yeah, I'd like that a lot." Aelita giggled and whispered goodnight to him before signing off...  
  
Aelita signed off with Jeremy, then sat up and glanced around at her surroundings. She was sitting near a deactivated tower in the glacier region, like she had before the attack. But she kept getting the feeling that something was wrong, something that was conflicting between the two time flows... She didn't notice the cloaked figure that was standing on a peak above her. The figure wore full black, with its black cloak swaying in the wind. It was about Aelita's size. The being stepped back and walked out of sight...  
  
Aha! That was the closest all four human characters have been to death at once. So XANA's plans were thwarted...or were they? After all, just look at the title of the chapter...and just who (or what) was that cloaked entity watching Aelita? Nothing is as it seems in this fanfic.  
  
Expect the unexpected and prepare for what's not there... 


	4. The Messenger

Quick reminder: I don't own "Code: Lyoko," or anything directly involved with the show, I'm just a teenager who liked it and would like to contribute a fanfic. So sue me. Wait. No. Please don't. I have no money.  
  
CHAPTER FOUR: THE MESSENGER  
  
(Scene opens up in Jeremy/Odd/Ulrich's classroom.)  
  
"So, can anyone tell me what Einstein's Theory of Relativity is?" Mrs. Hertz asked her students.  
Jeremy raised his hand.  
The teacher glanced around the rest of the classroom, waiting for any others.  
"Anyone except Jeremy?"  
Nothing stirred.  
"Alright, Jeremy, you may tell us."  
Jeremy took a breath.  
"Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity stated the controversial possibility that time slows down with an object's acceleration. This was proven true when two high-speed jet planes, each holding two atomic clocks, were sent around the world in different directions. One went clockwise across the world, the other, counterclockwise. Atomic clocks are accurate to a 1,000,000th of a second, even more accurate than the sun or moon, so scientists were amazed to find that both clocks had different times. The counterclockwise jet bore atomic clocks with a slower time."  
Mrs. Hertz was naturally amazed.  
"...Bravo! Bravo, Jeremy!"  
Jeremy turned around and smiled at Odd and Ulrich.  
"Well, as painful as it can be, I feel safe going into Lyoko with someone like Jeremy guiding us, don't you agree Ulrich?" Odd asked his deskmate.  
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Ulrich grumbled.  
The bell rang. Mrs. Hertz quickly reminded the students that they were being tested on their unit on The Study of Einstein the next day.  
  
Yumi was sitting under a tree, curled up with a book, when the others approached.  
"Hey, Yumi," Ulrich told her.  
Yumi looked up at him and smiled.  
Ulrich and Odd sat down on opposite sides of Yumi as she closed her book and stuffed it in her backpack.  
"Any luck with the antivirus, Jeremy?" Yumi calmly asked him.  
"I'm searching every moment I'm granted...I haven't found anything useful yet though," he answered.  
"Don't look now, but here comes Sissy..." Odd alerted them.  
The cunning girl walked over, her eyes as always locked on Ulrich.  
"Ulrich, I'm having a birthday party at the pizza stop downtown in a few days, and I want you to come."  
Ulrich lazily shifted his eyesight to her.  
"Why should I? I mean, you didn't even ask..."  
"Because...I just want you to. Plus, I don't beg like some mistreated puppy."  
"How about...no." Ulrich retorted.  
Sissy's depression was obvious on her face for a moment, but she quickly replaced it with a smug smirk.  
"Fine. I don't need you."  
"Could've fooled me..." Ulrich chuckled.  
Sissy blushed.  
"Hmph!"  
She glared at him and walked off.  
  
As she did, though, her face clouded in sadness.  
"Won't even come to my birthday party..."  
She stopped and hung her head. She didn't notice the rotting tree branch above her. The wind began to blow sharply, pushing one of the flexible branches against it. It began to crack, and the wood began to split...  
  
Ulrich, feeling smug, had been watching her. He noticed the branches swaying around, dangerously smacking against the thick, dead branch... "Sissy! Watch out!" He cried as he leapt to his feet and raced towards her, surprising the others. He watched as the branch spilt in two and fell towards her. She cried out in horror as it fell two stories towards her... But Ulrich dove at her and knocked her out of harm's way. He too would have gotten out of the catastrophe unscathed, but the branch pinned his leg down and he hit the concrete hard.  
  
"Oh no!" Yumi shouted. She and the others fled to the tree ad tried to lift the branch off of Ulrich. Jim, who was on supervisor duty, shooed them out the way. They dragged Ulrich out from under it instead. Ulrich winced in pain. He resisted sleep just long enough to search for Sissy in the crowd of faces, and spotted her two henchmen helping her up. Then, he let his eyes slowly close, and he fell into a deep sleep.  
  
(The scene opens up in the infirmary. A crowd of faces is surrounding the comatose Ulrich. The faces include Jeremy, Yumi, Odd, Sissy, Sissy's father the Principal, the nurse, Jim, and the two school reporters.)  
  
"What's wrong with him?" The Principal asked. "We don't know...all of his vital signs are present, and miraculously he didn't even break anything, it's just a few scratches and a bump on his head...I and any other doctor would simply tell you that he's just asleep, but he is showing unusual brain activity." "Unusual brain activity? Like what?" Jeremy asked solemnly. "Well, that's just it. The machines here can't tell. It's out of our hands."  
"Why can't you send him to the city hospital?" Yumi threw out.  
"The wouldn't take him. Technically, there's nothing physically wrong with him."  
  
(Scene opens up in a dark, shadowy place. Ulrich is lying face-down on a glowing marble floor.)  
A soft wind blew over Ulrich. His eyes clenched, and then opened. He slowly rose to his feet shakily as he noticed someone standing with his back to him.  
Ulrich glared at the figure. Whoever this was, he'd better have answers.  
"Who are you, and where am I? How did I get here? Why am I here?" he shouted out at him.  
The figure turned around. He was wearing a black cloak over black clothing. It was hard to tell he was there, because he almost camouflaged into his surroundings.  
"Ulrich." At the sound of the voice, Ulrich realized that he was speaking to a girl. A girl his age. The voice was familiar, but he couldn't place it...  
"How do you know my name...?"  
Her face was hidden in shadow, but Ulrich heard her chuckle.  
"I know a lot about you. About Jeremy. About Odd. About Yumi..."  
His face softened in curiosity.  
"...About Aelita, Lyoko...I know about XANA."  
"What...?" Ulrich started.  
"You are lying in a coma in a hospital bed at your school. Your friends are worried. But your mind is here with me."  
"What do you want with me?"  
"Heh heh...so many questions...it's very unlike you, you were always the quiet one. I'd expect one of the others to be this inquisitive, but you've surprised me."  
"You haven't answered any of my questions."  
"Quite true. Very well then..."  
Ulrich smirked.  
"Who am I? My name is Serena. Where are you? You are in your own mind, where I have chosen to contact you. How did you get here, and why are you here? I pulled you here when you suffered from a quick act of heroism..."  
Ulrich's memory of the tree branch falling towards Sissy returned.  
"...And I brought you here because I have chosen you out of your group to deliver a message from me to your friends."  
The hair on the back of his neck bristled.  
"What kind of message?" he asked in his sarcastic tone.  
The figure stepped towards him. He stepped backwards.  
"Do not worry, I'm not here to hurt you..."  
She made her way closer to him, until she was five feet away. She removed her hood and shook her hair.  
"What in the—"Ulrich started.  
The girl looked just like Aelita. EXACTLY like her. The only difference was that her hair and the marks under her eyes were bright green instead of light red/pink.  
She stepped closer and whispered in his ear.  
"The end is near..."  
She stepped away and began to walk away.  
"Hey! HEY! Where are you going!?" Ulrich shouted at her.  
"Me? I'm going back home. Lyoko is waiting for me. Plus, I have to pass the same message to your friend XANA..."  
"But what about—wait a minute! XANA!? What are you—!?"  
Serena thrust her palm towards him, and the air began to swirl in it. An incredible gust lifted him backwards and off of his feet. A hole was ripped in the air behind him, and he was sucked into it. He shouted in surprise as he was pulled back out of his mind, the hole sealing itself behind him.  
Serena watched him fly backwards into the large inter-dimensional portal. She clasped the palms of her hands together, as if praying, then lowered her head and shut her eyes. She whispered in an arcane dialect and a red ring appeared around her. The ground inside the ring changed to the same shade of red, and she began to sink into it. A white column of light shot straight upwards from the ring into the black sky, and she was lifted several yards up into the air. She vanished in the column. The light disappeared, leaving no trace of her existence.  
  
(So, what do you think? Sorry that this one took so long, I had computer problems...but I'm back now at least. Ulrich has been chosen by a strange girl that remarkably resembles his friend Aelita, and she claims to know all about his friends and their adventures. But, what is she after? And how will her presence fit into the future? And what does she mean, 'the end is near'? Don't expect the answers to make themselves clear quickly, but you can expect Ulrich to be back in action in Chapter Five.)  
  
(Author's Note: The original title for this one was supposed to be 'A Moment's Peace', but I decided to attack Ulrich with a dead tree instead.)  
  
(More reviews mean more chapters! Keep R&R'ing!) 


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